Do You Think I'm a Freak?
by scurls8
Summary: The other side of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, as told by Credence Barebone.
1. Section One

It was just another winter day on the streets of New York. My sisters and I stood in front of the City Bank, holding pamphlets for the New Salem Philanthropic Society. Ma was standing on the steps, speaking to the crowd that had gathered on the sidewalk.

"...this great city sparkles with the jewels of man's invention! Movie theaters, automobiles, the wireless, electric lights—all dazzle and bewitch us! But where there is light there is shadow, friend. Something is stalking our city, wreaking destruction and then disappearing without a trace."

I stared at the ground as I slowly handed out the NSPS pamphlets. I had never really agreed with her hateful meetings, but I knew she was right this time.

I was becoming more nervous by the day. The whole thing was already embarrassing, and now I had to be careful she didn't notice anything unusual about me.

"We have to fight—join us, the Second Salemers, in our fight!" As I looked around at the crowd, someone trying to get to the bank tripped over what looked like a brown case.

"I'm so sorry—my case—" A man with an English accent helped him up.

"No harm done—" he was saying. "Excuse me!" He made his way through the crowd and rushed up the steps into the bank.

Ma took this opportunity to single out the man with the accent.

"You, friend! What drew you to our meeting today?"

He seemed very uncomfortable. "Oh… I was just—passing…"

"Are you a seeker? A seeker after truth?"

"I'm more of a chaser, really."

Ma continued, "Hear my words and heed my warning… and laugh if you dare: Witches live among us!"

I felt uncomfortable at her words, so I focused on working my way through the crowd with the pamphlets. I really didn't want them to listen to her, but I had no choice.

"We have to fight together for the sake of our children—for the sake of tomorrow!" Ironically, she was trying to protect me…

She focused on the English man again. "What do you say to that, friend?"

Instead of answering, he started to push through the crowd towards the bank. "Excuse me." He hurried up the steps without another word.

Ma paused, confused at why the man suddenly left. After a moment, she continued speaking to the crowd. "Witches live among us."

I couldn't let her know. Guilt came over me as I remembered all the damage I had caused the night before. I had turned an entire building into a mound of bricks. All down the street, I had caused only destruction.

I could still feel the forceful anger, but now guilt overwhelmed it. I had never meant to harm those people, and only Graves seemed to understand.

Lost in thought, I was startled when an alarm sounded from inside the bank. I looked up at Ma. She motioned for me to carry the Second Salemers banner back to the church.

I handed my pamphlets to Chastity as I picked up the banner. As we walked down the sidewalk, I glanced over my shoulder. The police were rushing into the bank.

Not paying attention to where I was going, I almost tripped as I accidentally walked into a man in a suit. I recognized his face—it was Senator Shaw.

"Watch it, boy." He glared at me as I passed him. I could tell he thought I was strange, so I kept my head down and walked faster.

We eventually reached the front doors of the Second Salem Church, the rickety wooden building we lived in but could never really call home. Modesty went upstairs to play almost as soon as we were inside. She was often bored at the meetings.

I set down the banner, my shoulder sore from carrying it. Chastity followed Ma into the kitchen, leaving me alone in the main room.

I could hear Modesty chanting a song as it echoed through the church. "My momma, your momma, gonna catch a witch. My momma, your momma, flying on a switch. My momma, your momma, witches never cry. My momma, your momma, witches gonna die!"

How much longer would I be able to live like this? Ma already had a feeling I was hiding something. My meetings with Graves were the only things that kept me going. He really believed in me. The last time I saw him, he told me that I could be part of the wizarding world. That was all I really wanted.

I walked over to the table covered in stacks of pamphlets. The huge banner of a wand being broken always made me uneasy, but it also made me think. If I helped Graves, I would have the chance of becoming a wizard. I could get my own wand, and I might finally be accepted. On the other hand, he might reject me because of my strange power… or was it a curse?

Looking up, I noticed a pigeon sitting on one of the church's windows. I clapped, scaring it away. Watching it made me want to fly away, too. It seemed so easy, but if I let that happen, I would be exposed with nowhere to go.

The sound of the dinner bell rung through the church. I stared out the door as a group of kids rushed in. There always seemed to be more each time.

Modesty continued her game as the children came into the main room all at once. She was still chanting, "...Witch number three, gonna watch her burn. Witch number four, flogging take a turn." No matter how much I tried to conceal it, my heart always skipped a few beats when she sang that song. Sometimes I wished I could just tell her...

I focused on helping serve the brown soup to the kids. They were all trying to get to the front of the line. Ma reminded them, "Collect your leaflets before you get food, children." She always seemed to find a way to get the word out about the NSPS, and I always hoped no one would really listen to her. Still, I guess I was considered part of the Second Salemers.

I had already ladled out the soup to several children when one boy stopped in front of Ma. He had a dark spot on the side of his head.

"Is it a witch's mark, ma'am?" he asked her.

"No. He's okay." Ma reassured him, but I wasn't so sure she believed he was fine. I watched as he took a bowl and sat down to eat it.


	2. Section Two

That evening, Ma told us we were going to talk to Mr. Shaw. Modesty, Chastity, and I each took a few leaflets before we left the church to meet with Mr. Shaw's younger son, Langdon. He seemed eager for us to come to his father's office.

"Alright, I think we're good to go!" he said as he grabbed a few photographs off his desk and led the four of us into an elevator. "My father's office is on the top floor, and people aren't usually allowed to see him in his office, but I am. Just stick with me." He was obviously excited that we were there and really wanted to show off.

The doors opened at the top floor and we stepped out into a large room crowded with journalists. "...and so this is the newsroom." I took off my black hat and smoothed out my hair, trying to at least make a good impression. Being around that many people at once also made me nervous.

"Let's go!" Langdon quickly walked us through the rows of writers, talking to them as we passed. "Hey, how are you? Make way for the Barebones! Now, they're just putting the papers to bed, as they say."

As we approached the set of doors leading to Mr. Shaw's office, his assistant stood up and tried to intercept Langdon. He had clearly interrupted many meetings before this one.

"Mr. Shaw, sir, he's with the senator—"

"Never mind that, Barker, I wanna see my father!" Langdon forced his way into the office, where Mr. Shaw and his older son were talking. I grew more uncomfortable as I realized Senator Shaw probably remembered bumping into me on the sidewalk earlier that day.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Shaw, but your son insisted—" his assistant started to apologize.

"Father, you're going to want to hear this." Rushing into the room, Langdon proceeded to lay out several pictures on Mr. Shaw's desk. I instantly knew what they were — photographs from each of the times I had destroyed something in the past few months. "I've got something huge!" When I realized what was going on, I wanted to get out of there more than ever.

Luckily, Mr. Shaw did not seem interested in any of it. "Your brother and I are busy here, Langdon. Working on his campaign. We don't have time for this."

Ignoring his father, Langdon continued, "This is Mary Lou Barebone from the New Salem Philanthropic Society, and she's got a big story for you!"

"Oh, she has, has she?"

"There's strange things going on all over the city. The people behind this—they are not like you and me. This is witchcraft, don't you see."

"Langdon."

"She doesn't want any money."

Mr. Shaw stood next to him in front of the desk. "Then either her story is worthless, or she's lying about the cost. Nobody gives away anything valuable for free."

"You are right, Mr. Shaw," Ma now joined in the conversation. "What we desire is infinitely more valuable than money: It's your influence. Millions of people read your newspapers and they need to be made aware about this danger."

"The crazy disturbances in the subway—just look at the pictures!" Langdon tried to show his father the evidence, but Mr. Shaw decided to end the interruption.

"I'd like you and your friends to leave."

"No, you're missing a trick here. Just look at the evidence—"

"Really."

"Langdon. Just listen to Father and go," Senator Shaw added. Already annoyed by his little brother, he turned to look at me. "And take the freaks with you."

Anger built up inside of me, but I managed to control it.

"This is Father's office, not yours, and I'm sick of this every time I walk in here…" Langdon protested.

"That's it—thank you." Mr. Shaw motioned for us to leave.

By then, everyone in the newsroom was quiet. Ma tried to be calm and polite despite being rejected. "We hope you'll reconsider, Mr. Shaw. We're not difficult to find. Until then, we thank you for your time."

Ma began to lead us out of the office, but as I turned to follow her, I dropped one of the NSPS leaflets. Senator Shaw picked it up off the ground, glancing at the picture of witches on the front. "Hey, boy. You dropped something." He walked up next to me and crumpled the leaflet before putting it in my hand. "Here you go, freak—why don't you put that in the trash where you all belong."

My hatred for Senator Shaw filled every part of my body, but I managed to calmly walk back out into the newsroom. Modesty held my hand as we left. She was the only reason I didn't kill the senator right then and there.

As we made our way back to the church, we passed the Woolworth Building, and I remembered that Graves had told me to meet him there one night within the next week. The problem was that he hadn't told me which day, so I had to make an excuse to be there every night.

After dinner, which consisted of the leftover soup from lunch, I asked Ma if I could stay out on the sidewalk for a while. Taking a few leaflets to cover my true intentions for staying out late, I headed out the large front doors.

"Credence," I heard her call from inside. I paused and turned to look at her. "Be back here in an hour, no later."

I nodded and quickly shut the doors behind me. Finally on my own, I rushed down the sidewalk, only slowing down when the Woolworth building came into view. There was no sign of Graves, so I passed the time trying to pass out the leaflets in my hand.

I began to worry when I didn't see Graves for a while, but I finally spotted him across the road and hurried across the street to meet him. He motioned for me to follow him into a dark alleyway.

I wanted to tell him about Senator Shaw, but I couldn't seem to find the words.

"You're upset," he noticed. "It's your mother again. Somebody's said something—what did they say? Tell me."

"Do you think I'm a freak?"

"No—I think you're a very special young man or I wouldn't have asked you to help me, now would I?" Graves placed his hand on my arm, startling me for a moment. No one had ever really cared that much about me…

"Have you any news?" he asked, changing the subject. I still wasn't sure if revealing my power to him was the right move, so I tried to cover for myself.

"I'm still looking. Mr. Graves, if I knew whether it was a girl or boy—"

"My vision showed only the child's immense power. He or she is no older than ten, and I saw this child in close proximity to your mother—she I saw so plainly."

I thought of the crowds of children that stopped by the church for lunch every day. "That could be any one of hundreds."

"There is something else. Something I haven't told you," Graves added. "I saw you beside me in New York. You're the one that gains this child's trust. You are the key—I saw this. You want to join the wizarding world. I want those things too, Credence. I want them for you. So find the child. Find the child and we'll all be free."


	3. Section Three

I shut the wooden door of the church as I walked in, more content than before. I always slept better after my meetings with Graves.

Chastity stared at me from the kitchen, but I thought nothing of it until I saw Ma's dark figure sitting on the steps leading up to our rooms. My heart stopped beating in my chest.

"Credence—where have you been?"

Nothing was going to get me out of trouble this time, but I blurted out, "I was… looking for a place for tomorrow's meeting. There's a corner on Thirty-Second that could—" I stopped as I saw Ma's stonelike face staring down at me from halfway up the steps. "I'm sorry, Ma. I didn't realize it was so late."

All hope gone, I unlatched my belt and handed it to Ma. She stood and led me up the stairs to the balcony.

Tears welled up in my eyes. I looked away and could see Chastity through the railing, standing at the bottom of the stairs in her white nightgown.

Ma took my shaking hands in hers, turning them over as my tears started to fall.

"Credence," she sternly looked into my eyes, "remember that you chose this, not me."

I closed my eyes. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. The thin black belt hit my hands over and over again. As a rule, Ma added one more each time I did something wrong, so it became increasingly worse by the week.

When she was finally done and her stiff figure relaxed, I cried and held the hands that were part of me but I could not feel. My clothes were stained from the blood, but I didn't have the strength then to clean them off.

I opened a window in my room and curled up in the corner, crying until a forceful anger took over. That anger scared me maybe as much as Ma did.

I began to shake uncontrollably, and my mind soon became completely filled with my hatred for Senator Shaw. It always made me choose targets like that — whatever this part of me was. Before I realized, the dark force broke out, and I was streaming down the streets of New York.

Soon, I was at the city hall. I heard Senator Shaw speaking, "...no reward for idleness. So just as the odious saloons have been banished…"

He paused as he heard me coming up through the organ pipes, then continued, "...so now the pool halls, and these private parlors…"

I even hated the sound of his voice. Growing restless, I rushed up the organ pipes into the city hall. Chairs, tables, lights, people — everything was thrown aside as the anger broke loose and destroyed anything it could find.

When I saw the large poster behind Senator Shaw with a huge picture of his face on it, everything focused on him. I slammed him back against his own poster and lifted him almost to the ceiling before smashing him back down onto the stage with all the strength I had.

In my frenzy, I completely slashed his poster, destroying his image as well as his life. Finally content with the havoc I had created and Senator Shaw's death, I left the city hall and headed back to my little room at the NSPS church.

I slept for maybe a few hours, until dawn when Modesty softly knocked on the doorway. "Ma's not so mad," she whispered, trying to at least be kind to me. "She just says you have to do dishes today." I nodded as she headed out into the main room for the day.

Looking over at the window, blurry memories from the night before came back to me. I held my head in my hands and sat on my hard bed as the usual wave of guilt hit me. Why did I have to do that? I killed Senator Shaw, I might have hurt someone just sitting there in the city hall, and I… I was a murderer.

"Credence!" Ma yelled for me from the kitchen. Heart pounding, I raced out of my room and down the stairs.

The pile of dishes by the sink was growing exponentially and I immediately started washing the bowls. Chastity, always the rule-follower, called after the children as they left for the day, "Hand out your leaflets! I'll know if you dump 'em. Tell me if you see anything suspicious."

Hopefully, they wouldn't have the bad luck to head towards the city hall. Watching them leave, I made up my mind to stop by there myself. I would hate myself if I had hurt someone I didn't mean to, but then again, it was already killing me to not know.

When I finished washing the dishes, I left with Chastity to put up posters for the next NSPS meeting. At the sidewalk, she handed me half the stack, and we went separate ways.

As I walked around the last corner and looked down the street at the city hall, I could easily see the amount of damage I had done.

The walls crumbled where I had passed by them, a few people had bandages, and one even had his right arm hanging in a small cast.

I stayed there for a few minutes, looking over the building, but I knew there was nothing else I could do. Maybe if I had a wand and real magic, I could at least do something to help, but I had to tell myself that would never happen.

The afternoon slowly passed as I wandered the streets, occasionally hanging posters in alleyways. Eventually, the scars on my hands began to bleed again from managing the posters all day, so I returned to the church.

Just as I walked up to the building, I realized I still had a couple more posters in my hand. I turned down the alley next to the church and started hanging them there.

I had barely finished when someone suddenly appeared next to me. It scared me at first, but I soon realized it was Graves. He was here to help.

"Credence. Have you found the child?" His demeanor was more forceful than usual.

"I can't," I told him. The past day had been one of the hardest since I met Graves.

The tone in his voice changed and he appeared more calm. "Show me." He held out his hand. I protectively backed away, unsure of his intentions, but Graves took my hand in his.

My nerves settled as I was reminded of the kind way Modesty always held my hand. He looked over my scars.

"Shhh. My boy, the sooner we find this child, the sooner you can put that pain in the past where it belongs."

With these words, he passed his thumb over my palm, causing the scars to almost disappear. I stared at my hand. He almost never showed me his magic, and this — this was amazing.

Changing the subject, Graves reached into his pocket and pulled out a triangular symbol on a black chain. "I want you to have this, Credence. I would trust very few with it—" he whispered, hanging the chain around my neck. "Very few."

He put his hands on my neck, and I tried to trust him, but I was still uneasy.

"...But you—you're different."

Graves covered the symbol with his hand. "Now, when you find the child, touch this symbol and I will know, and I will come to you," he whispered. "Do this and you will be honored among wizards. Forever."

He pulled me into a hug. The only other person that had ever hugged me was my real mom… I closed my eyes, not wanting him to leave, but he stepped away.

"The child is dying, Credence. Time is running out."

Without another word, he walked back down the alleyway and disappeared into thin air.


	4. Section Four

I quietly swung open the door of the church and stepped inside. Modesty and Chastity were sitting at the main table, quietly reading and working. They both glanced up at me as I came in, looking almost relieved that Ma hadn't seen me come in so late. When I heard some noises from upstairs, I realized she was in her room. Relieved, I sighed a little, then awkwardly walked to the other side of the main room and up the stairs.

My bed creaked loudly under me as I sat down, deep in thought. I wanted to become a real wizard so much, and I couldn't… not yet, anyway.

Thinking over my meeting with Graves, I looked more closely at my hand. I kept turning it over and over, as if I was going to find a mistake. This was actual magic, and it was so close to being mine. I suddenly had an overwhelming longing to have my own wand… to just hold one in my hand…

I looked up and walked over to my doorway. Ma was still busy in her room. A few weeks ago, I had seen Chastity with something… if she still had it…

The impulse overtook me. Heart pounding, I stared at the ground and walked to Modesty's room. I briefly looked around and realized there was only one place she could hide something well. Checking behind me a couple times, I lowered myself to the ground next to her bed. As I shuffled through several small boxes, I found myself uncomfortably crawling under the wooden frame. I had almost given up when, out of nowhere, there it was. Still flat on the ground, I stared at it, hardly breathing. I reached out, and my fingers finally grasped the—

"Whatchoo doin', Credence?"

My head slammed into the frame of the bed as I stood up, scared out of my wits. I came back to my senses when I saw that it was only Modesty, but we simultaneously realized that I was standing in the middle of the Second Salem Church… holding a toy wand.

"Where'd you get this?" I asked, trying to shift the attention off of me.

She suddenly became nervous. "Give it back, Credence. It's just a toy!"

I was about to reply when the door banged open. Ma glanced at Modesty, but when she saw me holding the wand, her face revealed all the anger she had ever shown me, and more.

"What is this?" she demanded, pretending to be calm. We all knew I was as good as dead. She grabbed the wand and dragged me by the arm out into the hall. "Take it off." Ma's cold eyes stared into mine as she snapped Modesty's fake wand in half.

I did as she said, shaking and crying as I felt the familiar anger overtaking me. "Ma…" I began as she took the belt from my hands.

"I am not your ma! Your mother was a wicked, unnatural woman!"

"It was mine," Modesty tried to explain.

Ma started to say, "Modesty—"

Just then, the belt whipped out of her hand and into the corner. Already regretting the inevitable, I retreated to the end of the hallway. Ma looked down at her hand, now streaked with blood.

"What is this?" she asked again, this time with less pride. Modesty met her gaze, but I tried to hide in the corner.

Ma reached for the belt, but it shot away from her again. I thought I even saw tears in her eyes.

I'm not exactly sure what happened in those next few seconds. I just remember thinking I didn't want this to happen... not right now, not in front of Modesty… and then… screams, my anger, cold faces, glass shattering, and a white figure running… then silence.

The only thing I could hear was my own breathing. I was sitting near the back of the church, crying horribly, surrounded by chaos and death.

One thing came to my mind. Still too shocked to really think, I grabbed at the chain around my neck. Graves could help — he always helps.

I cried more and more as I sat there, surrounded by the consequences of whatever this thing had done.

A few moments later, Graves was there next to me. "The Obscurial—was here? Where did she go?"

He was supposed to fix all this. He didn't understand, and I was crying too much to explain.

"Help me. Help me."

Graves apparently only cared about Modesty. "Didn't you tell me you had another sister?"

I wanted to tell him to stop asking about her and just help me fix what I had done, but all I could manage to say was, "Please help me."

"Where's your other sister, Credence? The little one? Where did she go?" he kept asking, but I didn't want to talk about her. I wanted him to care about me like he should.

"Please help me."

Suddenly, he slapped me — hard. I looked straight at him, completely surprised and confused. To me, he had always been the opposite of Ma. In that moment, though, I started to realize he wasn't exactly who I thought he was.

Graves said something about Modesty again and pulled me off the floor.

I was surrounded by a strange feeling. It wasn't like the dark force, but almost like sickness.

Then we were standing on a small, abandoned street in the Bronx. I recognized the tenement building in front of us as the home Ma had adpoted Modesty from.

I wasn't sure how Graves found this building, or how we got there, but I knew what he wanted me to do: find my sister. I climbed the steep front steps and found the door unlocked. As he looked around the old corridors in the dark, Graves asked, "What is this place?"

"Ma adopted Modesty out of here. From a family of twelve. She still misses her brothers and sisters. She still talks about them." Halfway up the narrow staricase, I stopped walking. I remembered seeing those twelve kids, all sharing one room, most of them sleeping on the floor. Modesty was so strong, especially in the church when she missed her family... and I was so weak. I hadn't even managed to keep her safe.

"Where is she?" Graves wanted to know. He was ready to search every inch of the Bronx until he found where she was hiding.

"I don't know," I admitted.

"You're a Squib, Credence. I could smell it off you the minute I met you."

This seemed like an insult, but I wasn't sure. "What?"

"You have magical ancestry, but no power."

I couldn't believe what he was telling me. "But you said you could teach me—"

"You're unteachable. Your mother's dead. That's your reward. I'm done with you."

Graves had no idea what he had just done, and mentioning Ma had only made it worse. I could tell I had started to breathe more heavily, but I was managing to control myself. I took deep breaths and walked into one of the rooms Graves had already been in. As I was starting to calm down, though, I heard him saying my sister's name. I realized she had run to her one safe spot to get away from me, and now Graves was going to scare her even more. I had to get him away from Modesty.

The bricks started to crack and shake around me. One by one, the walls between me and Graves were destroyed, but I couldn't look directly at him through my tears and burning hatred.

He finally realized. Yes, it was me. It had been me all along.

"Credence… I owe you an apology…" Graves started, but I had my own things to say to that traitor.

"I trusted you. I thought you were my friend. That you were different." My rage only grew as I tried to put it into words.

"You can control it, Credence."

This time, I stared straight at him. "But I don't think I want to, Mr. Graves." Then I let go and rushed towards him as a dark mass of pure anger.

I was inches away from murdering him when I saw Modesty, trembling in the corner, scared out of her mind. I couldn't do that to her again. Instead, I flew out into the street, throwing everything out of my way. I was finally free like that bird from the church.


	5. Section Five

I don't know how long it was that I raged through the city, throwing cars like toys and ripping the sides off brick buildings as if they were sand.

Fires blazed in the night, but I wasn't in control any more.

The black of my anger grew orange with rage when I noticed Graves walking towards me across a destroyed square. What could this traitor possibly want to say to me? Did he actually think more lies would make this better?

"To survive so long, with this inside you, Credence, is a miracle. You are a miracle. Come with me—think of what we could achieve together."

"Shut up!" I screamed at him, but rather than talking, the dark force knocked him over. That was more fulfilling, anyway. "Just shut up! You're nothing but evil—and I thought you were different!" As I yelled at Graves, a figure ran into view behind him.

"Mr. Graves!" she yelled, aiming her wand at him. She reminded me of a kind witch I once met. Graves turned to block her spell, and I rushed away.

The force took over again, and I sped along the skyline of New York. People's screams and rubble on the streets had no effect on it now, and I was carried anywhere my anger went.

"Credence!" I heard a voice yell above the noise. Was he running across the rooftops? "Credence, I can help you." He had a distinctly British accent. It wasn't Graves, but I was not in a mood to talk. When I moved towards the sound to see who was speaking to me, he disappeared.

I soon had other things to worry about, though. Without warning, spells started hitting me as quickly as these people could fire them. I tried to escape, but it was no good. They were everywhere.

"Stop it, they hurt! Everyone leave me alone!" I stopped when I realized they couldn't hear me. I would have to try something different... I would have to hide from them.

Crashing down through another street, I met a line of police officers, but their bullets did nothing.

I spotted a subway station entrance, and the dark force crashed into it as I painfully pulled it back within myself. It did not want to be manipulated, but I was done. I managed to calmly walk down the stairs before the force overtook me again. It crept along the curved subway walls, its anger slowly fading as mine did.

"Credence…" The voice from the rooftops spoke again. "It's Credence, isn't it? I'm here to help you, Credence. I'm not here to hurt you." He seemed kind… I could see him now. He slowly walked towards me. "I've met someone just like you, Credence. A girl—a young girl who'd been imprisoned. She had been locked away, and she'd been punished for her magic."

I couldn't believe it. There was someone else out there, a girl just like me. Could I finally be accepted?

Before I knew it, the dark force was gone. It was just me, shaking, sitting next to the wall. I looked over at this strange, new man. He crouched down on the floor to be at eye level with me.

"Credence, can I come over to you? Can I come over?" he started to stand up, but was knocked over by a white blast. Graves was back.

I ran away down the tunnel, but stopped short when I saw the subway coming. At the last second, I was thrown to the side by an invisible force.

As I hit the other tracks, I realized why Graves had not caught up to me. The other man was dueling him. I ran behind him, watching helplessly as they fought. I knew that I was never going to let Graves control me again.

Graves suddenly ripped up the tracks — he was obviously very powerful, and I wasn't sure why this British man was fighting so hard for me. He didn't deserve any of it. If anyone did, it would be Graves. That cruel, evil man… I found myself crying as the British man cried out in pain…

I was halfway around the corner when I decided I couldn't walk away. Not this time. Not when a complete stranger was suffering for me.

The dark force burst out again, heading straight for Graves.

"Credence," he whispered. He still thought he had a chance. When I attacked, he disappeared. I almost tore apart the entire subway in frustration. Where was he? Where did he go?

I blasted through the ceiling, exploding with fury and shattering a building. Then, I crashed back into the subway — but he was too quick.

"You don't deserve to live after what you've done!" I yelled.

"CREDENCE, NO!" I stopped. It was a lady's voice this time. She stepped out of the shadows, and I instantly recognized her. She was the lady who had confronted Ma when she was mad at me one time at the NSPS church. I had always remembered her. I had always thought that one day, if I became a wizard, I could find her again and thank her. "Don't do this. Please."

"Keep talking, Tina. Keep talking to him—he'll listen to you. He's listening," the British man told her. I had forgotten her name... Tina.

"I know what that woman did to you. I know that you've suffered. You need to stop this now. Newt and I will protect you."

Newt, who had put his life in danger for me, even though we had just met... and Tina, who had defended me and been my inspiration for years… and a normal life as a wizard… I felt the dark force become more calm.

"This man—" she was saying, "he is using you."

"Don't listen to her, Credence. I want you to be free. It's all right," Graves defended, but I wasn't angry enough to fight him any more. I just wanted some peace in my life—

Out of nowhere, the people from the rooftops walked in. These people needed to leave me alone already.

"No! Get out, all of you!" I yelled again, but they weren't changing their minds. This time, the spells were much worse than the rooftop. I screamed as I felt myself being torn apart. Then, the dark force exploded. It wasn't there anymore, and I wasn't, either.

The next thing I remember… I was boarding a boat. I wasn't sure about anything, but one thought occupied my mind.

I had to go.


	6. Author's Note

Dear readers,

First of all, I would like to thank each of you for spending your time reading my story, when you could be doing so many other things. It really means a lot to me. This is the first time I have written a full-length fanfiction, so it's extremely inspiring to see that I have supporters all across the world.

I also want to say thank you for sending me such encouraging comments. Although Newt is my favorite character, I have been glad to hear from a few Credence fans that they appreciate my work. Keep the comments coming, too! Ask me questions, or just tell me what you think about the story.

I wrote this fanfiction because I know the movie so well, but also because I was uncomfortable about how little canon material there was about Graves and Credence. There seemed to be a lot of holes in Credence's motives, especially. That's what I tried to do with this story — give some reasons for Credence doing what he did. I hope I was thorough and accurate, and that this served as a good insight into the more dark scenes of the movie.

Sorry about how long it took me to finish it, by the way. Stuff happens — school, exams, Netflix, Infinity War — but I at least hope that you enjoyed reading it while we didn't have any new content.

I will be thinking of you all when we take over the theatres this November for _The Crimes of Grindelwald_!


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